Robertson, Hodges capture Junior County golf titles

Wednesday

Jul 3, 2013 at 8:09 PM

Seth Robertson eagles No. 16 to propel him on Wednesday at The Creek Golf Club. Blake Hodges cruises to victory by nine shots.

By ERIC BOYNTONeric.boynton@shj.com

While it falls just shy of matching a previous hole-in-one among Seth Robertson’s most memorable shots, his 5-wood on the 16th Wednesday at The Creek Golf Club ranks a close second.That 225-yard second shot on the par-5 preceded a 10-foot make for eagle that gave the 16-year-old “hope” before he finished off the final two holes for victory at the Coca-Cola Spartanburg County Junior Championship.His 1-under-par 70 matched first-round leader Jake Woodard’s opening total as the only below-par rounds of the tournament. Robertson finished 72-70—142 to nip Matt Thorne (71-72—143). Woodard tumbled to a second-day 75 falling into a tie for third with Jake Smith (72-73—145) and Will Hollenbach (71-74—145). Blake Hodges was the girls champion after she followed an opening 83 by posting the only sub-80 round with a 79 to defeat Anna Morgan (90-81—171) by nine shots. Sophie-Jade Miron was third at 88-90—178.“When the day began my plan was just to stay calm and not put a lot of pressure on myself,” said Hodges, a rising Byrnes junior who entered with a five-shot cushion. “I just wanted to play my game and not stress out, just keep playing smart and confident.“I hit my drives good, but my short game definitely helped save me. My short game is always strong but it was better than normal these past couple of days. There was a little pressure playing with the lead, but overall it felt like another day on the golf course.”For the first time in many years the boys’ winner didn’t come from the final group as Robertson, a rising Chapman junior, came from two back in a tie for fourth to begin the day before overtaking the field when that eagle putt dropped.“That eagle gave me hope and I knew I just had to finish strong,” Robertson said. “It’s just an awesome feeling. I hit everything good on the range and had a lot of confidence heading out onto the course. I made a couple of good swings early and by the time I eagled No. 16 I knew I really had a chance.”The top-10 finishers all received exemptions into the upcoming men’s county amateur and Robertson receives automatic entry into the prestigious Bobby Chapman Junior Invitational this fall at the Country Club of Spartanburg.“I’m honored to have my name on this trophy because there are a lot of big names on here,” Robertson said. “To get invited to the Bobby Chapman is something I’ve talked a lot about with my parents. I really wanted to get in and I’m just thrilled that it’s happened.”The leaderboard was a major cluster as the field turned the final nine as Robertson, Thorne and Woodard were all even with Smith one behind and Hollenbach two back. But Thorne was just beginning a stretch of three consecutive bogeys starting at the ninth that eventually doomed his chances. His putter failed him for a second consecutive day as he three-putted Nos. 9 and 11.“I knew I had the lead coming into No. 9 so after I bogeyed I knew I was still tied and could get it back,” Thorne said. “Then making all those bogeys in a row can get to you, but I just had to keep strong and realize there were still more holes out there. I felt I could pick some strokes up on the back-nine and just tried to keep my calm and swing easy and make a few putts to stay in contention, but didn’t make any.”Robertson was undergoing his own issues with a missed 3-foot birdie try at the ninth before a wayward tee shot led to bogey at the 10th and he three-putted from long range for another bogey at No. 11. He went birdie, bogey on his next two before the eventual victory-clinching eagle.